Improvement in allots of manganese



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Letters Patent lilo. 99,007, dated J an'uary 18, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN ALLOYS OF MANGANESE.

. The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and. making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ELLIOT SAVAGE, of West Merid'en, in the county of New Haven, and State of Con 'necticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Metallic Alloys; and I-do hereby declare that the tbllowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same. i

This invention consists in the combination of metallic manganese, to form alloys with copper, or with' copper and other metals. g

The object of the invention is, more especially, to obtain an alloy which forms a cheaper substitute for German silver, and one which is superior for the manufacture of such articles as are commonly made of German silver.

In the production of such alloys, I use theoxide of manganese, and it is necessary to separate the oxygen of this oxide from the metallic manganese, and combine the latter with some one .or more of the metals with whichit is to form an alloy. lhis must be accomplished while that metal or those metals are in a fused state, and in the presence of carbonaceous substances which will protect the metallic manganese from oxidation until it has become united with the other metal or metals. In the preparation of the oxide of manganese for this purpose, I finely divide, or pulverize and mix witlr' it, a suflicient quantity of coal-tar, crushed charcoal, or other carbonaceous substances, or reducing-agents, to absorb or take up the oxygen which is liberated in the process of reduction.

When the oxide of manganese has beenthus prepared, Iplace it in a crucible, orother suitable vessel,

- with the proper quantity of the metal or metals with which it is to t'orm an alloy, cover it with a layer of crushed charcoal, and place a cover uponthe mouth of the crucible or vessel, to exclude the air, and then heat it in a suitable furnace until the reduction of the oxide of manganese is accomplished. The furnace employed-may be such as is commonly used in the melting of steel or brass. The other metal or metals, having become'fused during the process, readily unite with the metallic manganese, and the alloy, thus produced, is poured into suitable moulds, and allowed to cool. v y Y i In the production of a-given quantity, that is to say,

ten (10) pounds of an alloy, composed of copper, mauganese, and.nickel, intended as a substitute for German silver, I take, by preference, the following proportionsbr quantities of the metals and substances used; but I do not wish to confine myself to these exact proportions or quantities:

Eight (8) pounds of copper, four (4) pounds of the peroxide of manganese, one-half (it) pound of nickel, two (2) pounds of crushed charcoal, one-i half (2:) pound of cyanide of potassium, and a sniiicient quantity of coal-tar to moisten the oxide of manganese and charcoal, so that they shall adhere to each other.

This mixture, when treated as above described, will produce an alloy remarkable for its hardness, malleability, and ductility, and of a color and lustre closely resembling silver.

It is well known that alloys of copper, nickel, and zinc,\kn0wn in the arts as German silver, mnst be made to contain from fiftecnto twenty per cent. of nickel, in order'to produce a metal snflicieutly white in color.

-It is also found that German silver usually contains a small quantity of sulphur, which produces, in

the polished surface of the metal, small spots or blisness in the arts.

The'action of the manganese metal in my invention overcomes the above-named difliculties, the sulphur being entirely removed and carried off by it into the slag, and a much smaller percentage of nickel can also be used, the manganese metal contributing to the production of an alloy, of a white or silvery color, thus greatly reducing the cost of the alloy, while the qualityand usefulness of the metal are greatly increased.

Similar results follow whenthe metallic manganese is used in combination with other metals. 1 have made an alloy of copper, silver, and manganese, by first obtaining-an alloy of copper and manganese, by the process herein described, and afterward melting this alloy, with silver,in a crucible. I propose, also, to obtain alloys of gold, copper, and manganese, in the same way. v

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

An alloy, substantially such as ishercin described,' 

